CUUS063 main CUUS063 Goldreich 978 0 521 88473 0 March 31, 2008 18:49
Computational Complexity
A Conceptual Perspective
Complexity Theory is a central field of the theoretical foundations of computer science.
It is concerned with the general study of the intrinsic complexity of computational tasks;
that is, it addresses the question of what can be achieved within limited time (and/or with
other limited natural computational resources).
This book offers a conceptual perspective on Complexity Theory. It is intended to serve
as an introduction for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, either as a textbook
or for self-study. The book will also be useful to experts, since it provides expositions of
the various sub-areas of Complexity Theory such as hardness amplification, pseudoran-
domness, and probabilistic proof systems.
In each case, the author starts by posing the intuitive questions that are addressed by the
sub-area and then discusses the choices made in the actual formulation of these questions,
the approaches that lead to the answers, and the ideas that are embedded in these answers.
Oded Goldreich is a Professor of Computer Science at the Weizmann Institute of Science
and an Incumbent of the Meyer W. Weisgal Professorial Chair. He is an editor for the
SIAM Journal on Computing, the Journal of Cryptology, and Computational Complex-
ity and previously authored the books Modern Cryptography, Probabilistic Proofs and
Pseudorandomness, and the two-volume work Foundations of Cryptography.
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